Windows has a "system managed size" option for pagefile size, which seems to lack precise documentation.
What exactly does Windows do when you choose this?
Does it simply select default min and max sizes, or does it do something fancier?
Does windows shrink the pagefile and grow it later (with annoying dialogs)?
Does anyone know how to move the page file on Windows Server 2008. Everything seems to be in a different spot on this OS!
Also, I would like to tweak it's size. If you know where that is (probably in the same spot) please let me know.
What is better for performance? A partition closer to the inside of the disk will have slower access times, and we must wait for the drive to switch between the OS and swap partitions.
On the other hand, a swap partition bypasses all of the filesystem allowing writes to the disk directly, which can be faster than a file.
What is the performance trade off?
How much does having a fixed size swapfile make a difference?
Is it a case that it will be longer to change to the swap partition, but performance will be better while it is on the swap partition that if it had been a swap file?
I'm running Windows 7 on a dual core, x64 AMD with 8 GB RAM.
Do I even need a page file?
Will removing it help or hurt performance?
Would it make a difference if this is a server or a desktop?
Does Windows 7 vs. Windows 2008 make a difference with a page file?
What are the opinions on allowing virtual memory inside a virtual machine?
For example, a host machine w/8 Gig of memory, I could run 4 VMs each w/2 Gig (roughly) and there would be no host swapping. However, in each VM I could have a 2Gig page file so the virtual server had 4Gig of usable memory, 2 physical 2 virtual.
OR... I could give each VM 4 Gig of "memory" and have the host use 8Gig of real memory and 8G of virtual memory and have no page file in each VM. Each VM would still have "4Gig" but the paging would occur on the host.
The warm-fuzzy part of me says setup paging in each guest like you would a real server and you're good. But the analytical side of me sees two major advantages to overcommitting the host memory and having no paging in the VM. First, the IO for the virtual memory is then handled by the host OS, which is closer to the bare metal, so it should be quicker. And second, paging would only be required if the host didn't have the memory available. If the guest wanted 4Gig, but other guests weren't using their memory then no paging would be required.
Thoughts?